Baruch College Ranks #2 among World’s Leading Quant Master’s Programs

College’s Master of Financial Engineering tops 48 programs among 12 countries

January 8, 2021

The Master of Science in Financial Engineering (MFE) program at Baruch College’s Weissman School of Arts and Sciences has received national recognition for its academic excellence, and, once again, the program is earning worldwide honors.

Baruch’s MFE program ranks #2 on Risk.net’s “Quant Finance Master’s Guide 2021” list, placing behind only Princeton University and finishing ahead of several prominent institutions such as New York University, Columbia University, Imperial College London, and University of California, Berkeley.

This year’s ranking represents a one-point move up the global list, as it earned the #3 spot for the last two years on Risk.net’s annual ranking of the top global quantitative finance programs.

“This ranking completes a remarkable year in the turmoil of a global crisis due to a pandemic,” said Dan Stefanica, PhD, co-director of Baruch College’s MFE program. “Our students had a banner employment year, won both the Rotman International Trading Competition and the IAQF Financial Case Student Competition, and our program ranked #1 in the 2021 QuantNet list. We are overly proud of our Baruch MFE alumni and students!”

For its 2021 rankings, Risk.net evaluated 49 quantitative finance programs from 12 countries—Australia, Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.

‘Perfect Employment Scores’

Risk.net attributed the jump in Baruch’s 2021 ranking to the College’s “perfect employment scores for its graduates.” Additionally, the Baruch MFE program ranked #1 in starting salaries.

According to Stefanica, Baruch’s MFE graduates have secured positions with top-tier companies, such as Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, IMC Trading, and JPMorgan. Internship placements for current students in the last two years was 100 percent.

About Baruch College’s MFE Program

The Baruch MFE program is a STEM-designated program that produces competitive, successful, and highly skilled practitioners by promoting the study of mathematical and algorithmic models in finance.

The program has a strong record of helping its students obtain internships and full-time job placements. From December 2019 – May 2020, all 30 MFE students landed full-time positions within three months of graduation, with first-year base salary, plus signing bonus, as high as $235,000 and averaging $147,000.

Learn more about the program here.

Ranking Methodology

Risk.net considered eight metrics to compile the leading quantitative finance master’s programs in the world. The eight variables are: average class size, acceptance rate, percentage of offer-holders who enroll, ratio between lecturers and students, number of industry-affiliated lecturers over the total number of lecturers, employment rate in finance sector six months after graduation, number of citations for the five most cited lecturers in the past four years, and average salary six months after graduated.

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